Infiltrating Hogsmeade

Halloween was on a Tuesday.

So it was Saturday night, three days earlier.

The Room of Requirement on the Seventh Floor of the Main Castle.

Two people were busy inside.

They were Cypher and Luna.

A week earlier, Iris had told them that her strange illness was about to flare up again and that she needed to return home to recuperate.

Cypher had asked Iris about it, but she had only shaken her head silently.

Cypher had even gone out of his way to ask Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore said he knew about it and had even participated in the treatment plan. After that, Cypher gave it no further thought. With Dumbledore around, what was there for him to worry about?

When the time was right, Iris would naturally tell him.

"Ice Blade Barrage!"

Cypher was practicing a new spell.

A basin-sized ball of ice condensed between his outstretched hands.

Then the ice ball exploded, turning into countless ice blades that shot toward the target some distance away.

Its destructive power was extremely impressive. The sharpness of the ice blades, combined with the kinetic force from their high speed—

left the thick target nearly shattered.

Cypher was very satisfied. He finally had a large-scale offensive spell.

He had named another single-target spell Little Ice Hammer. Luna had said it sounded awful and suggested changing it to Icy Soul Hammer.

This... had to be a coincidence. Cypher comforted himself after hearing the name.

Unfortunately, Icy Soul Hammer had only recently been created and mastered, and it required a long charging time to cast.

Compared to Wind Magic and Fire Magic, Ice Magic had a physical form and required less effort to cast.

Moreover, Cypher discovered that his sensitivity to ice magic far surpassed that of other elements.

Just as Cypher added ice skates beneath his feet and prepared to practice skating across ice—

Luna suddenly looked up and called out to him.

It turned out there would be a Herb Auction in Hogsmeade the next day.

Since Luna also needed to take Awakening Draught, the Dragon Blood Herb she had was no longer enough.

Since it was for his sake, what was wrong with sneaking off to Hogsmeade with Luna?

Cypher was helpless. If Luna had told him earlier, he could have greeted Professor Dumbledore and gotten a special pass.

But now Professor Dumbledore was away again. How were he and Luna supposed to leave the castle?

"But how are we supposed to get there?" Cypher lowered his head in thought. "You know the situation is tense right now, and the professors aren't in the castle either. Lower-year students are strictly forbidden from leaving Hogwarts through the castle gates on their own. Even if we use the Disillusionment Charm to slip out with the crowd, we still won't be able to bypass the screening magic to get back in."

Although Hogwarts had not openly expressed any intention of joining the Wizarding War, quite a few outsiders had already tried to infiltrate it, hoping to persuade or force it into participating in the coming war between wizards.

Hogwarts had no choice but to activate its ancient Contract Magic.

Only Hogwarts faculty and young wizards marked as students could enter through the school gates.

"Helena told me about a secret passage in and out of the castle. We can leave through there."

Luna fiddled with her fingers as she spoke softly. Helena had said not to tell anyone about this passage, but Cypher was not an outsider. That was what Luna thought.

"Helena? Oh, her..."

Since she was Ravenclaw's guardian ghost, the secret passage was naturally safe. Perhaps it had once been an escape route prepared in case Hogwarts came under siege.

Cypher noticed Luna's hesitation. Helena probably did not want anyone to know about the passage. Thinking of what Helena had gone through, perhaps she had specifically told Luna not to tell boys? Cypher could not help making that malicious guess, and he ended up laughing.

Now, Cypher felt that he had gained a certain ability to protect himself.

His Patronus Charm could produce a strand of silvery-white thread. It was not a corporeal Patronus, but he had at least gotten started.

As for Occlumency, Cypher gritted his teeth and chose to believe the two girls would not harm him.

Though they would tease him.

Several times, when he regained consciousness, the two girls were either blushing furiously or mocking him relentlessly.

However, the two girls refused to tell Cypher what they had asked. They did not want him to know the questions.

Fortunately, the two of them helped each other, and all three of them had barely gotten started in Occlumency.

If struck by ordinary Confundus Charms, they could still remain conscious.

Cypher had also learned quite a few other spells.

It could be said that even the cannon fodder young wizards who graduated would not measure up to him.

Besides, Hogsmeade was a village attached to Hogwarts, much like a university town built beside a college in his previous life.

No one would seriously try to kill young wizards there, right?

The next afternoon, Sunday.

Luna tugged on Cypher in the Ravenclaw common room.

Cypher, who had been reading Transfiguration Literature, raised his head blankly.

Luna gestured that it was time to leave.

Cypher hurriedly stood up, rubbed his face to wake himself, and returned the book to a shelf in the Ravenclaw Library.

The two walked out of the common room side by side.

Unfortunately, the Fourth Floor Staircase Corridor in the Main Castle was undergoing adjustments.

When they reached the fourth floor, the stairways and corridors before them were changing in dazzling ways.

Luna slapped her forehead at the sight.

"Just our luck, we caught the Staircase Self-Inspection. It'll take a long time to finish. But it's fine. Crossing stairs under maintenance was Iris's and my favorite game when we were little."

With that, Luna picked her moment and grabbed Cypher's hand, rushing forward.

The two jumped from one staircase to another that had swung away, then climbed from that staircase onto another corridor that was rotating and rolling.

Although it was Cypher's first time crossing a corridor under maintenance—

he and Luna were surprisingly in sync. Luna only had to tighten her grip slightly, and he understood where the next jump should go. They did not need to exchange a word.

At last, they arrived before the Hunchbacked Witch Statue.

"Helena told me all smugly that she wouldn't tell me the password here was Left and Right Separate!"

"Left and Right Separate!"

Luna took out her wand, tapped the statue lightly, and whispered the words. The statue quickly moved aside, revealing a passage before them.

"All right, get in—" Before Luna could finish, Cypher grabbed her and quickly slipped into the passage.

Outside, a lost Gryffindor first-year with tears in his eyes rubbed them. Had something just vanished?

The thought made him even more frightened...

After they entered the passage, it was flat at first.

The walls closed behind them, and the flat ground turned into a steep slide.

Cypher instinctively pulled Luna behind him into his arms and held her tightly, adding a spherical Shield Charm in front of them.

But they kept sliding faster and faster.

Cypher felt that even the Shield Charm would not hold. He quickly used Mage Hand to reduce their descent to a safer speed.

He had no idea how long the deep tunnel was. After a long while, under the faint glow of the Shield Charm, Cypher finally saw the end.

It was still a slide, but an arcing bend at the end turned the downward slope into a level path.

Once they passed the bend, Cypher realized he had worried for nothing.

A weak Shield Charm had been placed there. It could quickly bring their falling speed to a stop.

"Judging by the speed and time, if there isn't any spatial folding involved, we're probably around fifty meters beneath the castle."

Seeing that the surroundings were silent and there was no other movement, Cypher took out his wand and cast Lumos Charm.

Luna's face was bright red. She stepped out of Cypher's embrace, though she felt a little disappointed.

Seeing Cypher scanning the area, she patted her cheeks and spoke softly.

"Just keep walking forward. Helena and the others inspect these secret passages every day."

I thought ghosts were just mascots. The moment Cypher said it, Luna gave him a huge eye roll.

"Don't let Helena hear that, or you won't be able to stay in Ravenclaw."

"The end of this passage leads to the Honeydukes cellar. Let's hurry. While the older students are still in Hogsmeade, it'll be easier for us to leave through the shop."

Luna gathered her messy blond hair and spoke softly. Her crisp voice echoed through the empty Room of Requirement.

"The owners of Honeydukes don't mind young wizards sneaking into the cellar to eat and drink?"

Cypher asked as he walked forward with Luna.

"Of course not. This shop actually belongs to Hogwarts. That secret has been passed down verbally from one manager to the next. Of course, if you get caught, you'll still be in big trouble. The employees only know that you look like you're down in the cellar trying to steal something..."

After that, Luna chattered as she introduced the shops in Hogsmeade to Cypher: places for young wizards to buy potion ingredients, Wizard Robes, drinks, toys, and more.

After walking for who knew how long, the two arrived before a trapdoor.

They gently pushed it open. There was not a single person outside.

Cypher thought for a moment and took Luna's hand.

Then he pointed his wand at himself, and his entire body vanished into thin air.

Luna understood. She hurriedly cast the Disillusionment Charm on herself as well.

Perhaps some upperclassmen knew her. If they stopped her, it would be troublesome.

Because Cypher could not explain why he had suddenly appeared inside the shop.

To leave Honeydukes, they had to pass the counter and shelves on the first floor.

On Sunday afternoon, quite a few upper-year students were buying candy there.

It was difficult to sneak out silently. The crowd in front of them was packed shoulder to shoulder, and they could easily get shoved around.

Suddenly, Cypher's eyes lit up.

A Slytherin upperclassman was staring lecherously at a Ravenclaw older girl.

Going by instinct, Cypher pulled Luna in front of him and whispered something to her.

Then Luna led Cypher forward to stand behind the older girl.

Luna definitely slapped the older girl's butt.

Cypher would swear to it, because there was an obvious ripple in the older girl's Wizard Robe.

And when their older girl turned around angrily, her gaze happened to meet that lecherous Slytherin upperclassman.

The furious older girl immediately began arguing with him.

The students around them also crowded over to watch the show.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the two dispelled their Disillusionment Charms, pushed open the shop door, and slipped out.

They left a complete mess behind them.

Even if the older girl found out, she would not blame the two of them, right?

Just as Cypher was thinking that, Luna turned back and gave him a meaningful look.

A chill ran through Cypher's heart.

He swore with his eyes that he would take this matter to his grave.